Late Night Fights: Tatsuya Kawajiri in Shooto

A few people requested I bring this feature back and I'm plenty happy to do it. I probably won't make it a nightly thing like I was trying to do in the past, but when I decide to do it I'll share some great fights or fighters with you.  Tonight we have both as we take a look at some of Tatsuya Kawajiri's Shooto bouts as we get ready for "Crusher" to meet Shinya Aoki at DREAM.15.

First up is Kawajiri's rematch with Takumi Nakayama. The first time they met both men were making their professional debut and Nakayama was able to secure a first round rear naked choke for the victory.  Kawajiri would then draw with Yohei Suzuki before rattling off seven consecutive wins.  He lost a decision to Vitor Ribeiro at Shooto's 2002 year end show and off the loss took a rematch with Nakayama.  Nakayama had compiled an 8-0-2 record before going 1-3-1 with losses to Macio Barbosa, Vitor Ribeiro and Joachim Hansen.  He had hung in with Hansen and managed a draw against Rumina Sato so he was no pushover heading into the rematch.

Next up is Kawajiri's 2004 bout with fellow Japanese superstar Caol Uno.  Tatsuya was at a point where he was riding a 3 fight win stream.  Uno, meanwhile, was coming off his 7 fight UFC stint where he went 3-3-1.  Here's the video:

After the jump I'm going to make a small departure from MMA and bring a classic boxing match to you.

I think it'll be a fun departure if I sneak in some classic boxing on these just because they're posts that are meant to be fun and introduce you to fights and fighters you may not be familiar with.

In that spirit I bring you one of the classic bouts of the 1950's where Carmen Basilio took on Tony DeMarco.  It's a clipped fight but still a lot of fun.